KIF19

Cilia effects upon perturbation of KIF19

Loss-of-function effect:

Longer cilia

Ciliogenesis screen results (2 screens)

• Wheway et al. 2015 (siRNA) [siRNA]: No effect PMID:26167766
• Breslow et al. 2018 (CRISPR) [CRISPR]: No Significant Effect PMID:29459680

Subcellular localization

cilia, cilia tip

Functional category

• Ciliary assembly/disassembly
• Actin & cytoskeleton regulation
• Metabolism
• Cell migration & adhesion
• Kinesin motor
• Ciliary length regulation
• Microtubule depolymerization

Function

Kinesin-8 family motor that accumulates at cilia tips and controls cilium length. Uniquely among kinesins, KIF19A combines plus-end-directed motility along ciliary microtubules with ATP-dependent microtubule-depolymerizing activity at the plus end, thereby setting the steady-state length of cilia. Kif19a-/- mice display hydrocephalus and female infertility because of abnormally elongated motile cilia that cannot generate proper fluid flow (Niwa et al. 2012, PMID 23168168). The crystal structure of the motor domain reveals features clustered on the microtubule-binding side that enable both motility and depolymerization, including a destabilized switch II coordinating with a destabilized L8 to allow adjustment to both straight and curved microtubule protofilaments (Wang et al. 2016, PMID 27690357). In airway epithelial cells, AC6 stabilizes KIF19A by inhibiting AMPK-mediated autophagic degradation; AC6 knockout mice have longer cilia due to lower KIF19A levels (Arora et al. 2020, PMID 32683324). In Drosophila mechanosensory neurons, Kif19A is essential for enriching mechanosensory molecules at the cilium tip via localized active transport, without affecting overall ciliary structure (Wang et al. 2026, PMID 41941305). The C. elegans ortholog KLP-13 acts downstream of NEKL-4 in regulating ciliary stability (Power et al. 2024, PMID 38767515). Renamed from KIF19A to KIF19 by HGNC.

Model organism evidence